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Please note that speakers' biographies will be added on a regular basis as soon as speakers are confirmed, but may still be subject to change.
For more information on the agenda, please check the Agenda tab.
Keynote Speaker  Thordis ElvaWriter | Speaker | Journalist Thordis Elva is an award-winning writer, public speaker, journalist and activist. Her books, films and campaigns to prevent violence, both online and off, earned her the title of Woman of the Year 2015 in her native Iceland. She's a published author in 14 countries and her TED talk has been viewed over 5 million times. In 2017, Thordis Elva became one of the frontrunners of the #metoo revolution in Iceland, accepting the Person of the Year Award 2017 on behalf of the movement. As a sought-after speaker and content creator, her recurring clients include governments, international organisations and NGOs. This year, she's participated in the #DigitalRespect4Her campaign as well as Project CyberVAW, both of which have the aim of making the internet a safer place for women and girls. Thordis Elva currently resides in Stockholm, Sweden with her partner and their three sons. Speakers 
Emma Holten Human rights activist
Emma Holten is an online human rights activist, editor at Friktion Magasin, and works part time on gender and economic inequality policy at Oxfam IBIS, Denmark. After being a victim of non-consensual pornography in 2011, she became aware of the pitfalls of structural oppression and gendered violence, online and offline. This led to the activist project CONSENT, which became a viral success. She has delivered keynotes at the Conference on the Status of Women at the UN, The Next Web, TEDxVienna and Point Festival, among many others. She was born in 1991 and lives in Copenhagen.  Gina MartinAuthor and activist Gina Martin is an activist and writer. In February 2019, her eighteen-month campaign to make upskirting a sexual offence in England and Wales was successful and The Voyeurism Act was passed into law.Gina was named “One to Watch for 2018” by Cosmopolitan and one of PORTER’S “Incredible Women of the Year 2018”. She also won “Equality Champion of the Year” at the inaugural Stylist magazine Remarkable Women Awards in 2019, shortly followed by being crowned Cosmopolitan’s “Change Maker of the Year” in May 2019.  Sara SjölanderProject Manager, Girl Child Platform Sara Sjölander has an MSc in gender science and a background within the third sector, both as a professional and activist in non-governmental organisations. Today, she is the project manager of the Girl Child Platform in Sweden. The platform is a member organisation that coordinates and supports smaller associations that promote girls rights and perspectives. Sara has previously coordinated and developed the digital platform Näthatshjälpen (the Cyber Hate Assistant) for the Swedish equality foundation, Make Equal. At the Safer Internet Forum, she will be speaking about organisations’ responsibilities and opportunities when it comes to proactive and preventative work against online harassment and cyber hate: when we have identified the challenges, how do we, as organisations, handle them? Other contributors  Niels-Christian BilenbergHelpline Coordinator, Cyberhus Niels-Christian Bilenberg is the senior coordinator of the Danish helpline, Centre for Digital Youth Care, where he has had pedagogical responsibility for counselling services for vulnerable children and adolescents on the online platforms cyberhus.dk, netstof.dk and mitassist.dk since 2007. He also works as an external consultant, offering training of staff and ongoing sparring to municipal, governmental and non-governmental organisations on various aspects of online counselling, with a special focus on vulnerable children and young people. Niels-Christian studied education and social work and, prior to joining Digital Youth Care, worked with children and adolescents in schools. Claire BuryDG CONNECT, European Commission Claire Bury is currently Deputy Director General in DG CONNECT with responsibility for regulatory aspects of the Digital Single Market. She is also a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe in Bruges. She was previously Director of Modernisation of the Single Market in Directorate General Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. Before that, she was Head of Unit for Company Law, Corporate Governance and Financial Crime in Directorate General Internal Market and Services, and Deputy Head of Cabinet to Internal Market Commissioners Charlie McCreevy and Frits Bolkestein. An English barrister by training, she worked in the Commission’s Legal Service and, before coming to Brussels, in the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.  Ken CorishOnline Safety Director, South West Grid for Learning Ken Corish is Online Safety Director and Senior Management Team member with South West Grid for Learning Trust in the UK, drawing on twenty years as a teacher and school leader and ten years as a Becta award-winning Education Adviser with Plymouth’s ICT Team.Ken’s broad canvas of experience and engaging presentation style has seen him work with a wide range of educators and agencies. He has trained all education, social care and early years HMIs (Her Majesty's Inspectors) in aspects of online safeguarding and is responsible for shaping inspector guidance and training in online safety. He also contributes to online safety guidance and policy for the UK government, and regularly writes blogs and articles for the popular press. He developed and wrote the multi award-winning 360 degree safe online safety self-review tool and the Online Compass tool. Along with fellow director, David Wright, he also created the BETT award-winning BOOST toolset for children’s settings and was a key developer of the UKCCIS framework “Education for a Connected World”. In his European work, he has been one of the driving forces behind the development of the SEL (social and emotional learning) tools SELMA and ENABLE. He is currently working on the EVOLVE platform. He works with a broad range of national and international organisations and has spoken at global conferences in the Middle East, Far East, Europe and the US. He has recently written online safety standards with AQDAR for schools in UAE which won the prestigious United Nations WSIS Award 2017. Ken is a published author and musician with four daughters and seven grandchildren, and lives in sunny Devon.  Julie DawsonDirector of Regulatory & Policy, Yoti Julie leads regulatory and government relations, steers the ethics framework development liaising closely with the Yoti Guardians Council, and prepares Yoti for external accreditations - such as ISO 27001, BCorps for ethics and transparency, and the SOC2 security accreditation.Yoti is an identity checking system that allows organisations to verify who people are, online and in person. Yoti has a team of 250 based in London, with offices in Mumbai and present in the US, Canada and Australia. It counts over 4 million installs of the Yoti app, following its launch last November. For consumers, it’s an app that helps them prove who they are and confirm the identities of others. It distinguishes itself with its approach to privacy and security; the system has been architected so that it's impossible for Yoti to monetise users personal data. Julie serves on the TechUK Public Sector Board, TechUK Digital Identity & Justice & Emergency Services Committees, the Association of Document Validation Professionals, the Home Office Identity Document Working Group, is industry Chair of the Digital Policy Alliance Age Verification & Internet Safety Steering Group, Age Verification Providers Association, member of the Strategic Advisory Board of the EPSRC programme ‘INTUIT: Interaction Design for Trusted Sharing of Personal Health Data to Live Well with HIV’ and the EU SHERPA Stakeholder Board - looking at the combination of artificial intelligence and big data analytics and their impact on ethics and human rights issues.  Nick DunnePsychosexual Therapist, Brooke Nick Dunne has worked within the sexual health field for the past 15 years (5 of which at Brook). He started his career working with young people and young adults who were being exploited and coerced into the sex industry, and later went on to run a youth centre in the West Midlands, specialising in engagement with young people who were at risk of homelessness, exploitation, and leaving education early. Nick now works for Brook, running the education and wellbeing work across the UK in schools and places young people access. He also works part time as a counsellor for a mental health charity in London, focusing on support for boys and young men who do not access mainstream provision. Stefanie FächnerMedia Education Consultant, German Awareness Centre Stefanie Fächner is an experienced media education consultant and works for both the SELMA project on online hate speech and the German Awareness Centre, klicksafe. She studied Media Education, Communication Studies as well as Literature and Film Studies. After finishing her Master’s degree she worked as a research and teaching fellow at Stuttgart Media University and in a Research Support Project at the University of Education Schwäbisch Gmünd. Denton HowardExecutive Director, INHOPE Denton Howard has worked with the INHOPE network since 2005 in all aspects of hotlines and the environment that they operate in, including network development, technology development, outreach and training. Denton is a self-confessed hotline evangelist with a mission to combat online child sexual abuse. Denton has a BA in Business & Marketing (University of South Wales) and a Postgrad in Computer Science (National University of Ireland Maynooth). Gail KentDG CONNECT, European Commission Gail Kent is one of the most senior British officials in the European Commission in Luxembourg. She is Director of Data in one of the largest DGs and was also throughout 2016 the acting Deputy DG. Her current responsibilities include both policy and programme management in the fields of Data Economy, promoting cultural heritage and removing digital barriers. She has more than 20 years of high-level experience of managing large budgets, finance, compliance and HR in a multi-lingual, multicultural, highly political environment. Comfortable with senior levels in government, public sector and NGOs, she has sound judgment, budgetary acumen and good political skills. Outside of her main job, she has presided a staff Committee with members from several EU institutions looking at childcare provision for staff’s children. She also has presided several recruitment competitions and oversees middle management post procedures in other DGs. Fred Langford President, INHOPE and Deputy CEO, Internet Watch Foundation Fred is the Deputy CEO and Chief Technology Officer of the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), President of the International Hotline Association (INHOPE), Chair of the UK Council for Internet Safety - Technical Working Group (UKCIS TWG), Board Member of the UK Home Office Child Abuse Image Database Strategic Group, Member of the National Crime Agency (NCA) Prevent Strategic Board, a founding Director of the UK Safer Internet Centre and is an expert advisor to UK and other governments, parliamentarians, the Commonwealth, police and NGOs. Fred joined the IWF in December 2004 and is the Deputy CEO and Chief Technology Officer. Fred has over 25 years’ experience in across a variety of sectors primarily focusing on the internet, its technology, security, safety and regulation. Fred is a Chartered Director (ChDir) and Fellow of the Institute of Directors (FIoD) and a Certified Information Security Professional (CISSP). In 2019 Fred was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Suffolk for outstanding achievement, in addition to being a finalist for Digital Leader of the year and runner-up for New Chartered Director of the Year in 2017.  Lili LeißerLaw student and Youth Coordinator at the Austrian Safer Internet Centre At the age of 15, Lili Leißer started to actively engage in the field of Internet Governance, and participated in the Better Internet for Kids (BIK) Youth Panel in the 2015 and 2017 editions of the Safer Internet Forum (SIF). Since then, she has been an active BIK Youth Ambassador, participating in various events such as EuroDIG 2019. Lili also dedicated her school diploma thesis to a subject close to her heart, "Youth and digital media", and subsequently programmed a role play on the subject of cyberbullying which earned her second place in the youth category of the #SaferInternet4EU Awards, as presented at Safer Internet Forum 2018.Lili is now in her second year of law studies at the University of Vienna, Austria and works alongside her studies as a Youth Coordinator at the Austrian Safer Internet Centre (SIC).  Roger LoppacherPresident, Consell de l'Audiovisual de Catalunya (CAC) Roger Loppacher has a degree in Law, is an Executive Master in Public Administration (ESADE), and took a Management Development Program (PDD) at IESE. He is a member of the Legal Corps of the Government of Catalonia, and was Vice-President of the Governing Council of the Catalan Broadcasting Corporation (CCMA) from 2008 to 2012. He has also been General Director of Broadcasting, General Secretary of the Interior and Governance Departments, and Vice-President of the Board of the Catalan Center for Telecommunications, as well as Associate Professor at the Administrative Law Area at the University Pompeu Fabra.  June LoweryDG CONNECT, European Commission June Lowery has worked for the EU Institutions in Luxembourg for over twenty years, and in a variety of positions. Born in the North-East of England, she is very happy to now have Luxembourgish nationality. In July 2018, she took over as head of the unit in DG CONNECT responsible for Accessibility, Multilingualism and Safer Internet for Children.  Department of Humanities, Technological University Dublin Lavinia McLean is the Head of the Department of Humanities at the Technological University Dublin, at Blanchardstown campus. Prior to her current role, Lavinia worked as a lecturer in Psychology for over twelve years. Her research interests include the psychological effects of video games, female video game play, and the impact of social support and stress on wellbeing. Lavinia has published a number of research papers in international journals and presented at international conferences on both video game play and wellbeing. She has successfully secured funding for research projects in Ireland, and has collaborated actively with researchers in several other disciplines on projects in the area of teaching and learning.  Thomas Myrup KristensenManaging Director for EU Affairs, Facebook As Managing Director for EU Affairs and Head of Facebook's Brussels office, Thomas Myrup Kristensen is responsible for Facebook's representation towards the European Institutions. Before returning to Brussels, Thomas spent the last few years representing Facebook in a number of member states as well as countries outside the EU as Director Public Policy, Nordics, Central & Eastern Europe and Russia. Before coming to Facebook in 2011, Thomas spent several years in Brussels working for Microsoft and before that he was a special adviser in the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. Thomas' career in tech stems from a lifelong passion for how tech can both improve human interactions and shape society. A bit of a techie himself, he also owns a growing collection of outdated gadgets.  Maithreyi RajeshkumarPolicy and Communications Manager, Childnet Maithreyi Rajeshkumar is the Policy and Communications Manager at Childnet, a charity set up in 1995 to help make the internet a great and safe place for children. She is responsible for policy, communications and research at Childnet, and works to ensure children and young people’s voices are heard at all levels of decision making. Supporting the activities of the UK Safer Internet Centre (SIC), she also coordinates the Safer Internet Day (SID) campaign in the UK. She represents Childnet on the UK Council for Internet Safety (UKCIS) Evidence Group.Maithreyi also leads on Project deSHAME, an EU-funded project aiming to tackle peer-based online sexual harassment. Defining this form of sexual violence as “unwanted sexual conduct on any digital platform”, Project deSHAME is a collaboration between Childnet, Save the Children (Denmark), Kek Vonal (Hungary) and UCLan (UK). In close consultation with young people, professionals, industry and policymakers, it aims to increase reporting of online sexual harassment among young people, and improve multi-sector cooperation in preventing and responding to this behaviour. Maithreyi has worked for a number of different organisations in the charity sector, both in the UK and internationally, including in the children’s, violence against women and girls (VAWG), human rights and disability sectors.  Stephen TurnerHead of Public Policy, Government, and Philanthropy at Twitter Belgium As Head of Public Policy for Belgium, Stephen Turner manages the company's relations with EU regulatory bodies, lawmakers, policymakers, NGOs and civil society organisations. Having worked and lived in Brussels for the past seven years, Stephen joined Twitter in early 2016. Stephen’s past experiences include working on digital policy for a trade association and as a consultant. He is @sturner.  Sabrina VorbauProject Manager, European Schoolnet Sabrina Vorbau is Project Manager at European Schoolnet and has been a member of its Digital Citizenship Team since 2014. She works for a variety of online safety projects such as Better Internet for Kids, Web We Want, the eSafety Label and SELMA. She is managing the eSafety Label initiative and supporting the management of the SELMA project, which focuses on the topic of online hate speech. Within Better Internet for Kids, she acts as Assessment Officer, taking care of project evaluation, quality assurance and joint research approaches. Moreover, she coordinates the BIK Youth line of work. In addition, Sabrina leads the eSafety taskforce group of eTwinning. Within her area of work, Sabrina also represents the Digital Citizenship Team externally on various occasions, during expert meetings and international conferences in the field of online safety, internet governance and digital education. Originally, from Germany, Sabrina holds a Master’s degree in Applied Economic Sciences: Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Antwerp. Prior to joining EUN, she worked at the European Agency for Fundamental Rights in Vienna.  Milan ZubicekGovernment Affairs and Public Policy Manager, Google Milan works as the government affairs and public policy manager at Google in Brussels, where he covers topics related to online platforms liability, hate speech, disinformation and child safety. Before moving to Brussels in September 2018, he worked for two years at Google’s Central and Eastern European public policy team, coordinating data governance in the region and being responsible for government relations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Previously he was the programme manager at the Aspen Institute Central Europe and a public affairs consultant at Grayling. |
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